SALT AND SILVER:Early Photography 1840-1860

Salted paper prints, one of the earliest forms of photography, is a uniquely British invention, unveiled by William Henry Fox Talbot in 1839. Salt prints spread across the globe, creating a new visual language of the modern moment. This revolutionary technique transformed subjects from still lifes, portraits, landscapes and scenes of daily life into images with their own specific aesthetic: a soft, luxurious effect particular to this photographic process. The few salt prints that survive are seldom seen due to their fragility, and this exhibition is a singular opportunity to see the rarest and best early photographs of this type in the world. The exhibition was recently on view at the Tate Museum in London. Salt and Silver appears at the Williamson through the generosity of Jane and Michael Wilson and the Wilson Centre for Photography.

The Boston Globe‘s Mark Feeney offers an entertaining overview of the exhibition, well worth perusing, here.

Exhibitions:

MEDITATION ON MATERIAL:John Mason’s Firebrick Installations

Los Angeles was the site of a “revolution in clay” in which a small group of artists challenged studio pottery’s traditional focus on utilitarian ware to create sculptural forms. One of the central figures, John Mason, emerged as a sculptor of power, creating new works in clay that claimed equal footing with art in other media. Mason went on to work with clay and space as a visionary. In his Hudson River Series, Mason turned to manufactured firebricks as a medium, revealing most distinctly his deep interest in the role of the viewer and his fascination with the process of perception. The John Mason exhibition at the Williamson is dedicated to this series, and will consist of one very large firebrick installation, entitled Irvine, which demonstrates Mason’s fascination with the idea of perspective, including, but not limited to, the perspective of the viewer.

John Mason: Firebricks
And Shifting Notions of Scale and
Process in Sculpture

PresentationTuesday, October 16, 4:30 p.m.Steele Hall, Rm. 101

This presentation by Edward Cella, director, Edward Cella Art & Architecture, will be given in conjunction with the exhibition Meditation on Material: John Mason’s Firebrick Installations.

SALT AND SILVER:Early Photography 1840-1860

Salted paper prints, one of the earliest forms of photography, is a uniquely British invention, unveiled by William Henry Fox Talbot in 1839. Salt prints spread across the globe, creating a new visual language of the modern moment. This revolutionary technique transformed subjects from still lifes, portraits, landscapes and scenes of daily life into images with their own specific aesthetic: a soft, luxurious effect particular to this photographic process. The few salt prints that survive are seldom shown due to their fragility, and this exhibition is a singular opportunity to see the rarest and best early photographs of this type in the world. The exhibition was recently on view at the Tate Museum in London. Salt and Silver appears at the Williamson through the generosity of Jane and Michael Wilson and the Wilson Centre for Photography.

The Boston Globe‘s Mark Feeney offers an entertaining overview of the exhibition, well worth perusing, here.

75th SCRIPPS COLLEGE CERAMIC ANNUAL

JANUARY 26 –APRIL 7, 2019Lecture and Opening Reception: January 26

This year, the Ceramic Annual, the longest-running exhibition of contemporary ceramics in the nation, turns 75! Curator Kirk Delman, who has worked with the collection for decades, has selected some of the choicest works from the College’s renowned Marer Collection to display in the exhibition. Fred Marer, who collected artwork in the mid-twentieth century, befriended and supported some of the greatest ceramic artists of the time. Many of the works he purchased directly from those artists will be on display as we celebrate 75 years of ceramic exhibitions. The lecture, held at the Humanities Auditorium, will be on Sat., Jan. 26, at 4 pm, followed by the opening at the gallery, from 7 to 9 pm.

SCRIPPS SENIOR EXHIBITION

APRIL 26 – MAY 12, 2019Opening: April 26, 7-9 p.m.Williamson Gallery

An annual exhibition of final thesis projects created by graduating studio art majors, the Senior Art Show is a cornerstone of the studio art major at Scripps. In addition to producing the works displayed, seniors conceptualize the show, install their pieces, write artist statements, and design publicity for the exhibition. Works are displayed in the gallery for two weeks, through the end of commencement. The opening of the exhibition at the Gallery includes a reception that will be held in the Bixby Courtyard on Friday, April 26, from 7 to 9 pm.

Lectures:

Fragrant VisionsPainting Buddhist Ritual in China, Circa 1178

Wednesday, October 10, 7 p.m.Steele Hall, Rm. 101

Phillip Bloom is the June and Simon K.C. Li curator of the Chinese Garden and director of the Center for East Asian Garden Studies at the Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens in San Marino, California. He will focus on a few paintings that actually depict the performance of Buddhist rituals, and discuss how those depictions link real practice and imagined visions.

75th SCRIPPS COLLEGE CERAMIC ANNUAL

JANUARY 26 –APRIL 7, 2019Lecture and Opening Reception: January 26

This year, the Ceramic Annual, the longest-running exhibition of contemporary ceramics in the nation, turns 75! Curator Kirk Delman, who has worked with the collection for decades, has selected some of the choicest works from the College’s renowned Marer Collection to display in the exhibition. Fred Marer, who collected artwork in the mid-twentieth century, befriended and supported some of the greatest ceramic artists of the time. Many of the works he purchased directly from those artists will be on display as we celebrate 75 years of ceramic exhibitions. The lecture, held at the Humanities Auditorium, will be on Sat., Jan. 26, at 4 pm, followed by the opening at the gallery, from 7 to 9 pm.

Here’s a look at what is planned for the 2017-2018 academic year. See what the Williamson is up to:

EXHIBITIONS:

REVOLUTION AND RITUAL: THE PHOTOGRAPHS OF SARA CASTREJÓN, GRACIELA ITURBIDE
AND TATIANA PARCERO

Exhibition Runs Aug. 26, 2017 to Jan. 7, 2018

War, indigenous cultures and inner transformation ferment in Revolution and Ritual: The Photographs of Sara Castrejón, Graciela Iturbide and Tatiana Parcero. In this exhibition, the Williamson focuses on the works of three Mexican women photographers who explore and transform notions of Mexican identity in images that range from the documentary to the poetic.

Revolution and Ritual is part of Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA, a far-reaching and ambitious exploration of Latin American and Latino art in dialogue with Los Angeles. Supported by grants from the Getty Foundation, Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA takes place from September 2017 through January 2018 at more than 70 cultural institutions across Southern California, from Los Angeles to Palm Springs, and from San Diego to Santa Barbara. Pacific Standard Time is an initiative of the Getty. The presenting sponsor is Bank of America. Aero Mexico is a sponsor of Revolution and Ritual.

Special Event!

The Claremont Colleges Ballroom Dance Company will perform Latin dances in the Bixby Courtyard, in front of the Williamson Gallery, Sat., Nov. 18. Before they take the floor, though, the company members will offer a salsa dance lesson to all visitors who want to give it a whirl. Light refreshments will be served. A visit to the Revolution and Ritual exhibition at the Gallery, (open from noon to 5 p.m.), would be the perfect way to round out the afternoon. Admission is free and the public is welcome.

For more information on other organizations located nearby (and a bit farther afield) that are participating in the Getty’s LA/LA initiative, please visit: Revolution and Ritual

74th SCRIPPS COLLEGE CERAMIC ANNUAL:STORIES WITHOUT BORDERS

Stories Without Borders, the current Scripps College Ceramic Annual, opened for its 74th consecutive year on Saturday, January 20th, 2018. Patsy Cox, professor of Visual Art, California State University, Northridge, is the guest curator. This exhibition celebrates artists who embrace a myriad of cultures and backgrounds. Cox explains: “As an artist and educator from a multicultural background, I am personally interested in exploring the manner in which cultures affect, impact, and assimilate into one’s art. For the Scripps 74th Ceramic Annual, I have selected artists who make work that speaks directly about their identity, roots, home and sense of belonging as well. These sentiments are expressed visually and physically in their work through the artists’ use of color, form, and content. All of these artists bring their own experience and interpretation to address their social and cultural experiences. Standing amidst this work, the viewer will have the opportunity to embrace what might be different and uncomfortable, but also beautiful and compelling.”

The artists include Jennifer Ling Datchuk, Christina Erives, Steven Young Lee, Roberto Lugo, Kyungmin Park, Zemer Peled, and Roxanne Swentzel. The exhibition is accompanied by a full-color catalog with an essay by Namita Gupta Wiggers, American crafts curator and writer.

SCRIPPS SENIOR EXHIBITION

An annual exhibition of final thesis projects created by graduating studio art majors, the Senior Art Show is a cornerstone of the studio art major at Scripps. In addition to producing the works displayed, seniors conceptualize the show, install their pieces, write artist statements, and design publicity for the exhibition. Works are displayed in the gallery for two weeks, through the end of commencement. The opening of the exhibition at the Gallery includes a reception that will be held in the Bixby Courtyard on Friday, April 27, from 7 to 9 pm.

Dates are occasionally subject to change. Events are open to the public. Admission is free.

The Gallery is only open during exhibitions. Hours: Wednesday through Sunday, from noon to 5 pm.

While selected works from the permanent collection are displayed in exhibitions each year, the permanent collection is not on display.

Latin Dance Performance!

SPECIAL EVENT

The Claremont Colleges Ballroom Dance Company will perform Latin dances in the Bixby Courtyard, in front of the Williamson Gallery, Sat., Nov. 18. Before they take the floor, though, the company members will offer a salsa dance lesson to all visitors who want to give it a whirl. Light refreshments will be served. A visit to the Revolution and Ritual exhibition at the Gallery, (open from noon to 5 p.m.), would be the perfect way to round out the afternoon. Admission is free and the public is welcome.

The performance is part of the Regional Weekend events for the Getty PST LA/LA initiative. Find out more here.

On Saturday, Feb. 25, the Claremont streets were bone dry, though the corridors of Bridges Auditorium were flooded with both Scripps Collectors’ Circle (SCC) members and the artwork they were viewing. The theme was a black-and-white Venetian ball. The goal: to increase the College’s art collection by numerous works of distinction. An 17th-century Japanese pickled plum jar; a print of Frederick Douglass by Jacob Lawrence; and a photo of Frida Kahlo by Lola Alvarez Bravo were among the works considered.

The Scripps collection is used for teaching purposes both inside and outside of the classroom. The College has never had an art acquisition fund, and no tuition monies have ever been spent on art. While understandable, this practice has unfortunately left incomplete areas in the collections, hindering their function as a complement to the curriculum. Thus, the SCC was formed, with the mission of enhancing the collection. The patrons of this event–Danielle and Eric Haskell, Mary ’70 and Sperry MacNaughton, Ruth Owades ’66, Carolyn ’72 and Robert Wagner, and Mary ’66 and Fritz Weis–generously took over the expenses, thereby ensuring that all membership fees would be used exclusively toward the purchase of works.

The Venetian evening in black-and-white was the inspiration of SCC event organizers Mary Weis, Eric Haskell and Mary MacNaughton. The marble foyer of Bridges Auditorium made a perfect setting for the dinner, and several of Bridges’ most beautiful spaces were used as the site of various activities. The evening began in the theater, where Williamson Gallery Director Mary MacNaughton introduced a group of presenters, all current or former Scripps interns. Each student brought forward the merits of “her” work of art, and supplied convincing arguments to persuade SCC members to vote to add the piece to the Scripps collection. In addition, art conservation major Josie Ren described the tasks conservation students had completed on the restoration of the Shakespeare relief panels with Conservator Donna Williams at Williams’ studio.

SCC members view the artworks.

A wonderful surprise occurred just as the members began dinner. Michael (HMC ’64) and Sharon Blasgen ’64 donated funds that would ensure the continuation of conservation work on the Shakespeare relief panel, The Merchant of Venice, and its safe transport back home to Scripps, as well as the start of renovation on the next panel to be conserved. The burst of energy from the Blasgen’s gift boosted the voting into high gear, with many works chosen that will both enhance the collection and support the education of our students.

The evening ended on a high note: Artist Elizabeth Turk ’83 offered to donate a marble sculpture on the condition that the SCC vote to fund Turk internships for four years (two this year, two at a later Collectors’ Circle gathering). Early on, the group voted in favor of supporting two years of internships, as per Turk’s request. However, in a surprise move at the close of the event, a number of members donated funds to cover the other two years. Those members were: Nick Boone; Laurie ’59 and Bart Brown; Joanne ’63 and Dennis Keith; Mary and Sperry MacNaughton ’70; Suzanne Muchnic ’62; and Carol Vernon and Robert Turbin. Thanks to their generosity, the SCC members as a whole and Elizabeth Turk, the sculpture, Cage 13.5, is now part of the Scripps collection.

With the artworks secured in a glittering group, the candlelight sparkling on the marble walls of Bridges, music wafting through the air, and dancers gathering as diners lingered over coffee, one might agree with Shelley’s enthusiastic observation: “Venice, its temples and palaces did seem like fabrics of enchantment.”

The following works were purchased through the generosity of the Scripps Collectors’ Circle:

This fall, Scripps and Pomona Colleges are celebrating all things Noh, a vital branch of Japanese theater. All of the following events are open to the public: join us in this celebration of Japanese theater, music, and visual arts.

August 31 – October 7 Scripps Clark Humanities MuseumActing Out: Japanese Prints of the Ichikawa Lineage

In the late 17th c. the Ichikawa family of kabuki actors created stage roles that emphasized fantastic costumes and exaggerated gestures. Print artists were challenged to capture these dramatic poses and to advertise the various members of an acting lineage that has continued for cover 300 years. This exhibition highlights the “rough style / aragoto” roles developed by generations of performers bearing the prestigious name “Ichikawa Danjuro.”

This exhibition is in conjunction with the Scripps College art history seminar “Japanese Theater Prints.”

This exhibition will explore and celebrate the creative power behind Scripps College’s collection of art objects related to the 11th century novel “The Tale of Genji.” This exhibition will also set the stage for the October 29 premiere of a musical work by composer Dr. Koji Nakano titled Imagined Sceneries. Similar to the art objects that will be exhibited, Nakano’s musical work is an artistic re-imagining of “The Tale of Genji” and its Heian Kyoto landscape. Its performance in the museum will employ digital projections of ten prints from Ebina Masao’s “Tale of Genji” print series from Scripps’ holdings. These prints, which each depict a chapter from “The Tale,” inspired Nakano’s composition process and his selection of texts from “The Tale of Genji.” The exhibition is curated by Isabella Ramos, SCR ’17.

Over the last several years, Dr. Koji Nakano has composed cross-cultural works for Western and traditional Asian instruments, collaborating with musicians, dancers, and filmmakers in Asia, the U.S., and Europe. The idea of living composition is to explore solutions to problems of cross-cultural esthetics and musical elements, as well as to redefine the role of the modern composer in the multicultural society of the 21st century. In this lecture, Nakano, the Head of International Affairs Faculty of Music and Performing Arts Burapha University, Thailand, will examine the incorporation of Asian vocal and instrumental techniques into Western musical languages, using his own compositions as a guide, and discuss how hybrid musical elements are influenced by his heritage. He will also discuss the creative process behind Imagined Sceneries, a piece co-commissioned by Isabella Ramos ’17 and Associate Professor of Music Anne Harley, which will premiere this October at Scripps.

12 to 1 pm in Pomona Oldenborg Language Center “Finding the Form of Feeling: the Noh mask carver’s quest and solutions along the way.” Rebecca Teele-Ogamo

A lecture-performance by Tatsushige Udaka and members of the Kongo Noh Theatre, Kyoto
Noh is a traditional Japanese musical drama which is the oldest major theatre art in the world still regularly performed today. For this event, “Hagoromo (Celestial Feather Robe)” will be performed with mask and costumes by actors from the Kongo school, Kyoto.

Thursday, October 27 12 pm to 1 pm in Pomona Oldenborg Language Center “The World of Noh Through the Eyes of a Performer” Tatsushige Udaka

Friday, October 28 8 pm in Scripps Steele Hall 101 “The Who and Why of Japanese Theater Prints” by Professor Katherine Saltzman-Li,
University of California Santa Barbara

This lecture will explore the content and consumption of Japanese woodblock prints for the kabuki and Noh theaters, with emphasis on the intentions of the actors, print producers and audiences responsible for their existence.

3-4:30 pm in Scripps Balch Auditorium “Faces of Passion and Regret: Women in Noh” Rebecca Ogamo-Teele and members of Kongo Noh Theatre, Kyoto

Noh is a traditional Japanese musical drama which is the oldest major theatre art in the world still regularly performed today. This event, which explores the roles of women in Noh, will be performed with mask and costumes by Rebecca Ogamo-Teele and actors from the Kongo school, Kyoto.

Rebecca Ogamo-Teele describes the event: “After considering the extremes of masks for vengeful roles to the subtleties of masks that mirror fleeting regret, examples of the actor’s physical expression of these emotions through dance will be given, culminating in a costumed presentation from the Noh Hashitomi The Lattice Shutter, a nostalgic reverie of love based on episodes and characters of The Tale of Genji.”

Co-sponsored by Pomona College Department of Theatre & Dance for the Claremont Colleges, Pomona College President’s Office, Japan Foundation, Oldenborg Center for Modern Languages and International Relations, Pacific Basin Institute, Five College Asian Studies, Pomona Public Events, Pomona College Wig Fund for Teaching Innovation, Aoki Endowment for Japanese Arts and Cultures

Imagined Sceneries is a new musical work for solo vocalists, koto (a Japanese instrument), narrators, light percussion and electronically manipulated soundscapes written by Dr. Koji Nakano and co-commissioned by Scripps Associate Professor of Music Anne Harley and Isabella Ramos SC ’17. Its world premiere at Scripps College features students, faculty and Grammy Award-winning koto player Yukiko Matsuyama. With the Heian-era novel The Tale of Genji as his point of departure, Nakano explores attitudes towards life, society, and nature that are universally shared regardless of time and culture in his new musical work. Imagined Sceneries draws inspiration from The Tale of Genji text and from print artist Ebina Masao’s 1953 series Tale of Genji from the Scripps Ruth Chandler Williamson Gallery Collection. With its striking juxtaposition of new and old, Imagined Sceneries reimagines, or “re-sounds” Kyoto landscapes from The Tale of Genji that have since been burned out, relocated and rebuilt.

Prints depicting scenes from Japanese theater feature prominently in the Scripps collection of over 2400 Japanese prints. The collection provided ample material for this exhibition, which focuses on themes related to Kabuki, Bunraku and Noh theater. Costumes and masks will also be on view. The exhibition was organized by Prof. Bruce Coats, who teaches art history and the humanities at Scripps.

Until the 20th century, male actors usually played female roles on stage in Japan, and the role of the onnagata was an important part of the Kabuki theater tradition. This exhibition highlights those actors as depicted in woodblock prints and illustrated books. Works will be selected and described by students in the Scripps College “Japanese Prints” seminar.

The Artists and the Mews, the upcoming exhibition of pieces from the Scripps College collection, will explore representations of cats in eastern and western traditions from domestic pets to legendary monsters. This exhibition is part of a new tradition: for four years, Ruth Chandler Williamson Gallery interns have designed and curated their own annual show highlighting works from the Scripps College collection. The Artists and the Mews will run from March 17 to March 31. An opening reception with refreshments is scheduled Monday, March 21 from 7 to 9 p.m. in Gallery 112.

This year’s interns at the Williamson Gallery, Abby Rodriguez ’16, Maggie Wei Wu ’17, and Marie-Nicole Jeffroy-Meynard ’18, have focused on exploring the ways in which different artists find inspiration in cats. They look at the artists’ depictions of the various behaviors and characteristics of the domestic house cat, ultimately remarking upon the shared appreciation for cats across different cultural practices through paintings, etchings, ink prints, and ceramics.

From the western tradition, the interns plan to use a combination of modern American and 19th-century European pieces, including depictions of the mystery and curiosity of domestic cats and their place in our lives. These more familiar images will serve as a frame of reference for better contextualizing the rest of the pieces. As for the eastern traditions, Japanese prints and ceramic sculpture have been selected to display the legendary and historical aspects of cats.

The exhibit is free of charge and open to the public. Gallery 112 is located in the Lang Art Building at Scripps College, 250 E. 12th St., between Columbia and Dartmouth avenues. Hours are Monday through Thursday, 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and 1:30 to 5 p.m. For more information, please contact the Williamson Gallery at (909) 607-3397.

Collectors’ Circle members added this image of Marilyn Monroe by Eve Arnold to the Scripps collection.

Ceramics, prints, photography, a Japanese theater robe, a one-of-a-kind artist book: A veritable treasury of works awaited the members of the Scripps Collectors’ Circle (SCC) at their recent biannual gathering. Members had arrived to choose from these works for inclusion in the Scripps collection, which is used for teaching purposes both inside and outside of the classroom. The College has never had an art acquisition fund, and no tuition monies have ever been spent on art. While understandable, this practice has unfortunately left incomplete areas in the collections, hindering their function as a complement to the curriculum. Thus, the SCC was formed, with the mission of enhancing the collection. The event was underwritten through the generosity of Ann and Jim Ach, Joanne and Dennis Keith, and Suzanne and Paul Muchnic, thereby ensuring that all membership fees were used exclusively toward the purchase of works.

In keeping with the intention of bringing the Scripps sense of style to every element of the evening, SCC event organizers Mary Weis, Eric Haskell and Mary MacNaughton arranged to have some of the unique settings at Scripps opened to the group, including the beautiful terrace of the Tiernan Field House. Members enjoyed tea and a leisurely viewing of the works at Vita Nova before gathering for discussions on the artwork. Mary MacNaughton introduced a group of presenters, all Scripps students. (While several were majoring in Art History, Art Conservation, or Studio Art, the fields of Biochemistry and Philosophy were also represented.) Each student fought for “her” work of art, exerting the power of persuasion to convince the SCC to vote to add the piece to the Scripps collection. In addition, two art conservation students, Abby Rodriguez and Mikayla Raymond, offered a description of the work they had completed with Conservator Donna Williams on the restoration of the Romeo and Juliet relief at Williams’s studio. Rodriguez and Raymond requested funds to allow the now finished work to be transported back home to Scripps.

The evening ended on a high note: Not only were the conservation projects for the Shakespeare reliefs given support (ensuring the speedy return to Scripps of Romeo and Juliet), but every piece submitted for inclusion was purchased, enriching the Scripps collection with an abundance of works that will greatly enhance the collection, and the education of our students.

The following works were purchased through the generosity of the Scripps Collectors’ Circle:

ASIAN TEXTILES

JAPANESE NOH THEATER ROBE, Japanese, early 20th c. (purchased with the equal support of the Aoki Endowment for the Japanese Arts)

]]>The Tea House as a Living Museumhttp://rcwg.scrippscollege.edu/blog/2015/03/06/the-tea-house-as-a-living-museum/
Fri, 06 Mar 2015 16:02:33 +0000http://rcwg.scrippscollege.edu/?p=1629

Arbor of Pure Breeze:
The Tea House as a Living Museum

The Williamson Gallery continues its exciting selection of year-long presentations on the Scripps College campus. Free of charge and open to the public, this presentation is an invitation to spend some time in a different world.

Robert Hori
Urasenke Tea Ceremony Organization, Huntington GardensArbor of Pure Breeze: The Tea House as a Living Museum
Monday, April 6, 2015
Steele Hall 101, 7:30 pm
Supported by the Jacqueline Avant Lectures in Japanese Art.